NC Courage looking for fresh start as women’s soccer team begins 2023 NWSL campaign

Emily Fox has played soccer on hundreds of fields across the world, inside some of the game’s biggest arenas and in front of some of the largest and most jubilant crowds.

Yet, as she prepared for Saturday’s National Women’s Soccer League opener, there existed both feelings of trepidation and familiarity. In her first match with her new professional club, Fox gets to play on a field she knows well, in a setting she virtually called home for four years.

Fox, among the newer members of the North Carolina Courage after being acquired via trade in the offseason, played collegiately at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. The U.S. Women’s National Team defender will take the field for her new club for the first time in an official NWSL match Saturday at Sahlen’s Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary.

“Playing at UNC, I played at WakeMed Soccer Park quite a bit, so this weekend does feel a bit like coming back home,” Fox told reporters Thursday. “The fans here are great and I’m really excited to be back in front of them while also having a new (professional) experience, get to know the Courage fans and play that first game.”

As Fox reconnects with her college roots, and with some of the fans she may remember from her time in the Triangle, so too will the fans reconnect with the Courage. Though the team returns 17 players from last season — a team that just missed the postseason after a final-day draw — gone is the bulk of its firepower. The Courage scored 43 goals in 2022 NWSL play, and players responsible for 29 of those strikes are no longer on the roster.

“We’ve had a lot of new, young faces to layer in and probably gone from one of the oldest rosters in the league to one of the youngest in a short time,” Courage head coach Sean Nahas said Thursday. “But the growth of the group has been tremendous. The quality of the group is improving every day and the unity is very high.”

New faces on the pitch

Among the younger players the team is hoping can replace some of the scoring is Kerolin Nicoli. The 23-year-old rising Brazilian star is coming off a debut season with the Courage during which she scored six goals and had four assists in just 13 regular-season games while dealing with an injury.

The young forward, commonly known by the single name “Kerolin,” will play for Brazil this summer in the Women’s World Cup in addition to her matches with the Courage.

Kerolin will be looked on to help replace the production of another International star, Debinha, who after 100 matches in a Courage uniform, signed in the offseason as a free agent with the Kansas City Current. In a scheduling twist, Debinha and the Current will debut the 2023 season against the Courage on Saturday.

“They’re a good squad and they’ve obviously bolstered their roster,” Nahas said. “First game, you never know what to expect. It’s going to take teams a while to get into their settled moments. They’re going to be an attacking group, they’re going to be organized. (Coach) Matt (Potter) does a great job with them. We’re looking forward to an exciting game and what should be a great show for the fans.”

In addition to Kerolin, the Courage have added a distinct international feel to the roster this offseason, bringing in Mille Gejl of Denmark and Narumi Miura of Japan among their signings. Also joining the roster this season are the team’s four first-round NWSL draft picks — Olivia Wingate, Sydney Collins, Clara Robbins and Haley Hopkins.

Helping keep everyone working together and the season run smoothly with so many new faces will be the Courage’s second-ever team captain, Denise O’Sullivan.

“We’re all professionals, and we can all take criticism and want to hold each other to a very high standard,” O’Sullivan said. “Once we’re off the pitch, we’re all really close. I think that bond is special and that really translates onto the pitch so, so far it’s going really well. We have a lot of leaders on this team and that’s helped the young players feel comfortable and feel like they have a voice, too.”

Moving past turbulence

The organization as a whole is also looking for a fresh start. Through a series of reports and investigations, former Courage coach Paul Riley — whom the team fired in August 2021 — was found to have been a part of ”systematic” mistreatment of players. Further investigation led to his outright ban from the NWSL, though questions lingered about the role the Courage organization played in his initial hiring and retention after the first allegations of mistreatment surfaced.

In December, the Courage released a statement on the heels of the most recent report.

“We as a club have taken several progressive steps towards bettering team operations over the last 15 months and have already implemented a version of many of the recommendations made by the Joint Investigative Team, as well as various additional supportive measures,” the Courage release said. “We understand this must be an ongoing and ever-evolving process and that the work is far from over.”

Managing expectations

On the pitch, O’Sullivan, Nahas and the rest of the Courage leadership group will have its work cut out for it. Some preseason power rankings list the Courage last among the NWSL’s 12 teams, mostly because of the unknown, and what one ranking called a draft approach that was “against common wisdom.”

Saturday’s opponent from Kansas City is among the top four teams in those same rankings.

“I’m not one to put expectations on anything,” Nahas said. “The power rankings and all that stuff, people are going to come up with that on their own and that’s fine. We have a very new team. The expectation, for us, is the ‘one-percent better’ mentality. For the players, it’s making sure the locker room is the way they want it, that this group is close, they push each other every day, hold each other accountable and hold each other to our values. And we’ll see where that takes us.”

How to watch

Who: NC Courage vs. KC Current

When: Saturday, March 25, 2 p.m.

Where: WakeMed Soccer Park, Cary

More information: The Courage open their 2023 National Women’s Soccer League regular season with a home match against the Current. Gates open at 12:30 p.m. for the new FanFest experience.

How to stream: The game will be broadcast live on Paramount+.